Obama: Goal is to Disengage US Troops From Iraqi Combat Operations
By VOA News
22 July 2008
U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama says his goal - should he become president - is to have U.S. troops no longer engaged in combat operations in Iraq.
The Democratic senator told reporters in Jordan Tuesday, that while there has been security progress in Iraq, a political solution is now needed. He said Afghanistan is now the central front in the war on terror.
Obama is expected to meet with King Abdullah in the Jordanian capital, Amman, later Tuesday.
Earlier, Obama visited Iraq's Anbar province for meetings with Sunni tribal leaders who helped U.S. forces fight al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents.
On Monday, Obama met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad.
Senator Obama said Prime Minister Maliki stated his hope that "U.S. combat forces could be out of Iraq in 2010."
Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain said Monday that Obama was wrong to oppose the U.S. troop surge in Iraq that began last year. Senator McCain said the United States is winning the war in Iraq and more troops will be able to come home as conditions improve.
After his talks in Jordan, Obama is expected to travel to Israel for meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Obama told reporters in Amman that he knows it will be difficult to reach a peace deal between the two sides, but he pledged to try if he is sworn in as president.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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